Event Tech & Business

Email vs. Social Media – Where Should I Start

Which is better email or social media? Wow! That’s a big question you just asked.

I wish there was just a simple answer I could give you but like most things in life, it’s not that simple ( My mom taught me that lesson).

Let’s start by talking about Email:

Email is more likely to be seen by your audience. Think about it – most people check their inbox multiple times per day. Unless your email gets caught in the spam folder your customers will most likely see your email.

You don’t have to create loads of content for email. In general, you can send out emails way less than you post on social media. This is good and bad. It’s good because you don’t have to create as much content. But it’s bad because you don’t get the chance to be seen as much as with social media.

You “own” a person’s email address. Even if you switch email service providers or something catastrophic happens (like MailChimp goes out of business) you still have a spreadsheet of all your subscribers’ email addresses you can take with you. Plus, people rarely change email addresses and even if they do, they still probably check their old emails.

Now let’s discuss Social Media:

Not everyone is going to see your posts on social media. Even if somebody follows you, they might not see your post. Because so much information is competing on social media to appear in a news feed or timeline it’s difficult to get there. In general, I’ve seen that you can expect about 10% of your followers to see a particular post.

Social media lends itself to more frequent updates. Again this is good and bad. It’s bad because you have to create more content which can be very time-consuming. However, the more you post, the more likely your content is going to be seen.

With social media, you’re at the mercy of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. If they decide to ban you or change their algorithms or anything, you have no control over that. You can’t take your followers and bring them with you. Now, these companies are generally “good guys” who want you to use their sites and be successful but it’s something to keep in mind.

So that’s a quick overview of email and social media. If you’re looking for a quick answer, this is the best I can give you…